Chapter 18

Chapter 18

“Is there really no other way? Anything at all, as long as we can force that thing out!”

I wasn’t afraid of that kind of thing. I only needed it to stop hiding inside Uncle Cheng’s body. If it faced me head-on, even if it were a Buddha, I’d crush it with my bare hands!

Tang Ling sighed helplessly. “I can’t say there are absolutely no methods, but it’s already nine at night. There’s no time.”

I was about to ask more, but Uncle Cheng, who had woken up, pressed down on my phone.

His voice was already weak to the extreme. “Forget it, Changdong. I know my time is up. Do me one last kindness and send me on my way.”

With that, Uncle Cheng raised a hand and pointed toward the forest in the distance. “Take me into the woods. I’ve spent my whole life there, and in the end, that’s where I want to stay.”

“That thing inside me thinks that if it mixes in with my ashes, it can still go on harming people. In its dreams!”

“After I die, I’ll be fertilizer for the forest, food for the beasts. It can forget about ever seeing the light of day again. It will rot forever along with my body.”

I gripped Uncle Cheng’s withered hand, and my tears finally fell despite myself.

Ever since my wife died, I hadn’t cried in a very long time.

But this time, even after giving it everything I had, I still couldn’t save the man who had saved my life.

Uncle Cheng patted my shoulder.

I got into the car and drove Uncle Cheng all the way toward the great forest.

When we reached the edge of the woods, the car couldn’t go any farther.

Uncle Cheng pointed at the opened bottle of liquor. “Have a few drinks with me. Consider it seeing me off.”

Deep down, I still hadn’t given up. I wanted to hold on until the very last moment.

If that thing so much as poked out a little at midnight, I would grab it and yank it out of Uncle Cheng’s body!

But I never expected that, whether because the previous fight had left me too badly injured or because my mood had sunk too low, after drinking a few mouthfuls with Uncle Cheng, I would actually grow drowsy and fall asleep.

When I woke again, the sky was faintly bright, and Uncle Cheng, who had been sitting in the passenger seat, was gone!

I stumbled out of the car and shouted Uncle Cheng’s name.

Among the damp grass and trees of early morning, I could faintly make out traces of someone passing through.

I followed those tracks deeper into the forest.

It seemed Uncle Cheng had walked into the woods on his own in the middle of the night.

He had gone to find the place where he would rest in peace, intending to face that evil ghost alone at midnight.

Part of me hoped I could find Uncle Cheng. Another part of me feared that, in the end, I would only see the face he had left behind as he died alone.

By the time I climbed up a slope, even the sound of my shouting had changed.

That last sliver of hope in me was about to shatter completely. And then, at that very moment, I heard Uncle Cheng’s voice!

“Changdong? Changdong! I’m here!”

The voice came from the other side of the slope.

I practically tumbled and scrambled my way over.

And there, beside a large tree at the foot of the slope, I saw Uncle Cheng, bracing himself against the trunk, standing there alive and breathing!